Everybody remembers Boxing Day 2004, when the Asian tsunami unleashed a wave of destruction killing nearly 230,000 people in 11 countries. The disaster prompted a record breaking donation of more than £400m.
To mark the anniversary and show how some of the money was spent, the British Red Cross has launched a website sharing information and teaching about the problems caused by the tsunami in an interactive game
"The support we received from the public was phenomenal and enabled us to mount our largest recovery effort since the second world war," says Alastair Burnett, the British Red Cross disaster recovery manager. "Now we want to tell the story of how the money people gave was spent and the difference it has made to people's lives."
To learn more about how the money was spend and which decisions were made, the interactive graphic puts users in the shoes of a recovery manager like Burnett. They direct and coordinate the tsunami response. There are 15 decisions to test their ability to respond. Who is helped first? What should the money be spent on? Is the focus on long-term or short-term results?
The website features additional information about the recovery, shows what was achieved and shows some case studies that put names and faces to the money donated. And of course, it asks people to donate.
Additionally, the interactive site is interesting because serious gaming is being heavily discussed as one way to tell stories and pass on information in the future. Again, the innovative New York Times is one of the first in trying this method out, as you can see with this game about Darfur.
Facts about the Tsunami
3 – kilometres the wave travelled inland
9 – number on the Richter scale of the earthquake triggering the tsunami
13 – number of countries affected
20 – metres high – the wave that hit Indonesia
40 – the number of countries with people dead in the tsunami
500 – km per hour the wave travelled at
23,000 – equivalent number of Hiroshima-sized atomic bombs it would take to release as much energy
30,000 - Red Cross volunteers involved in the operation
230,000 – total people that died
500,000 – number of people injured
1,500,000 – children wounded, displaced or who lost family
4,500,000 - people who received recovery assistance from the Red Cross
5,000,000 - people who lost homes, or access to food and water
British Red Cross facts
£84.9m – total spent on recovery operation
2,936 - houses built, including:
2,212 in Indonesia
258 in Sri Lanka
466 in the Maldives
133,962 - total beneficiaries: (calculated by average number in household), including:
34,068 in Indonesia
91,644 in Sri Lanka:
8,250 in the Maldives
11,356 direct beneficiaries (receiving grants) in Indonesia
22,911 in Sri Lanka
1,650 in the Maldives
